Victor Wembanyama returns to France in August for the first time since the 2024 Olympic final, with four games starting against Serbia on August 20.
San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama will play for France for the first time since the 2024 Olympic final, with four games on the national team's August schedule.
He attended the inauguration of a renovated basketball court in Nanterre, where he spent eight years as a youth player. His comments there were published by the French site BasketUSA.
"Coming back here does my heart a lot of good," Wembanyama said. "I don't miss the NBA at the moment, but I do miss FIBA."
France opens the month with two exhibitions against Serbia, in Belgrade on August 20 and in Orleans on August 23. Les Bleus then host Slovenia on August 27 in the opener of the second round of 2027 World Cup qualifying and travel to Sweden on August 30. Slovenia will play the window without Luka Doncic.
The French Basketball Federation named Wembanyama to a 15-man roster on July 18. Rudy Gobert is on the list. So is Evan Fournier, who has not played for France since the Paris Games. Frederic Fauthoux, who replaced Vincent Collet after those Olympics, will coach Wembanyama for the first time.
France finished the first round of European qualifying with a 5-1 record and has advanced to Group L for the six-game second round. Wembanyama did not participate in last summer's window or EuroBasket 2025 while recovering from venous thrombosis in his right shoulder, which caused him to miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season in February 2025. Additionally, Georgia defeated France 80-70 in the round of 16 at EuroBasket.
His final game in the jersey was the Olympic final in Paris, where they lost 98-87 to the United States. He scored a game-high 26 points and also grabbed seven rebounds. Throughout that tournament, he averaged 15.8 points and 9.7 rebounds.
"It's sometimes difficult to maintain those connections with France every day when you spend so many months across the Atlantic," Wembanyama said. "But when I come back here, nothing could be easier because these are people I know and trust. Growing up in Nanterre and in France in general, I was surrounded almost exclusively by good people."
Through 64 games in 2025-26, Wembanyama averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists. He led the NBA with 3.08 blocks per game. He shot 51.2% from the field and 34.9% from 3-point range. He was the first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in league history, made the All-NBA First Team, and finished third in MVP voting. He was an All-Star for the second time and started for the first.
San Antonio finished 62-20 and second in the Western Conference. The Spurs beat Portland in five games, Minnesota in six, and Oklahoma City in seven. Wembanyama was named Western Conference finals MVP. New York won the NBA Finals in five games and closed the series out 94-90 in San Antonio on June 13.
Wembanyama agreed to a five-year, $252 million maximum rookie-scale extension on July 10. The deal includes a player option in the fifth season. He signed for the 25% maximum rather than the 30% tier, which would have been worth roughly $303 million.
Since the Finals, he has worked with Hakeem Olajuwon for a second straight summer and has added weight to a frame he brought into the league at around 210 pounds. He turned 22 in January.
Before joining the national team, Wembanyama will hold the second edition of his basketball and chess tournament in Nanterre. France plays Serbia in Belgrade on August 20.
